I know I bang on about the benefits of keeping horses as naturally as possible....but here I go again. Today I have read 2 articles on Faceache, which are both scientific and common sense. Neither article was related....but actually they are. They both reinforced my belief in keeping horses in a natural state as possible.
The 1st post was about rugging. Now if you compete all winter as I have done in the past, you need to clip your horse to prevent it getting too hot. If you clip, you need to rug. Thats fine. But however, if you are just a happy hacker, as i am now, its fine to leave the horse naked. After all they are naked in the wild.
The post went into all sorts of scientific biochemistry, of which I have no hope of explaining here. But basically......The horse is an animal. They are designed to live outdoors. We tend to humanise animals. But bear in mind....We have thin skin that feels the cold. Horses have thick skin. Horses also have FUR. The fur has muscles, which can stand up and change direction, which increases the thickness. Horses are designed to withstand all kinds of weather. They survived the Ice-Age. In Winter in the Wild, they do not seek shelter, they do not hibernate, or live in caves. The fur gets greasy, which makes them waterproof. Rain runs off the fur, leaving the undercoat dry. Horses have a very efficient internal heating system, generated by eating. SO if you are a happy hacker in the Winter, your horse does not need a rug, or hard feed.....Just plentiful forage (hay). And please dont groom him, as you will remove the grease. A quick removal of mud around the areas that tack will go on, is enough.
The 2nd Post was about sleep! Not something I have ever thought about before. Humans sleep in one block. We all know horses sleep in short phases and can sleep standing up....due to being prey animals, and the need to leg it at short notice.
What I didn't know, or think about before was the type of sleep horses need. Like us, they have different stages of sleep. The sleep they have, while standing up, or lying on there chests, is light sleep. Like humans, to have a really refreshing sleep, they need to go into REM, where humans dream. This is a deep sleep, muscles are paralysed, and the brain processes its day. No doubt the horse also dreams....We have all seen dreaming dogs?
For a horse to do this, it has to lay flat out, all the muscles relaxed and paralysed. This is a big deal for a horse!!! It has to feel completely at ease and safe. No mean feat for an animal that may get eaten any minute! It has to trust its herd mates to watch for danger! So what happens when a horse is stabled?? First up it has no herd to watch for predators. Secondly, the stable may be too small for it to lay flat out. So the horse that is in its lovely warm stable sleeping all night, is probably too wary to actually sleep properly....Something to think on.
As you all know by now, our ponies live out 24/7 in 2 herds. We do have guest ponies, but the main bulk of the Herd is settled. Charlie is the Stallion (so he thinks). Lu is the Dominant Mare, and the rest are mares. The only reason there is a line of electric fencing between the smaller and bigger ponies is that Charlie was cut late, and stills behaves like a Stallion. They can still touch, interact and hang out together, and therefore feel safe enough to lie flat out.
We have often caught the whole herd, flat out asleep. A herd will normally leave one horse on guard (like a Meercat), but a relaxed safe herd like ours just dont bother!! This is a natural way of living, making a happier horse, and a less stressed owner.
Why make life difficult?? Our daily routine is laid back. The horses are already out, so dont stress if we are 5 minutes late to turn out. We dont have to muck out stables (saving on time, and money on bedding). We dont have to change rugs (more time and money saved). No grooming (more time saved....we only groom lightly when riding). No hard feed.... Who wants to spend all that money on mixes? In the Winter we spend our money on hay. Each day we deliver more than enough hay to the fields. They always have some left over. Hay equals roughage, equals generating warmth. If a particular horse is on rehab, we may feed it, but with chopped oat straw, mixed with whatever herbs it might need. And so we check and refill the waters, poo pick the fields every day, which saves on worming.....And thats it.
Keeping horses naturally is cheap, its quick, and the horses are happy because they are living as close as possible to how they are supposed to live. The 3 F's. Freedom, Friends, and Forage. Lecture over...Think on it.
So I got invited to the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge on Faceache. Its a brilliant idea. There is limited sign up.....About a thousand of us. You commit to a certain amount of Horsemanship Hours a week... I chose Bronze Level which is only 3 hours a week....But as I am doing Groundwork with a goal to ride with Charlie, its plenty. There is a worksheet to fill in. There are also Mini Challenges to be done. On the Groundwork Challenge this ranges from Lunging a few circuits, to teaching the horse to lay down on command!
In January when the daylight hours are limited, and its cold, this is great motivation!! What a brilliant idea. There is a competition. At the end of the 12 weeks, the admin will trawl through the millions of hours of uploaded vids and chose a winner for a weeks holiday at Top Barn in Gloucestershire.
I have never come across such a supportive ( and motivated) group on line. The levels of horsemanship range from first time owners to experienced competitors. Everyone has a demon, or challenge to conquer. Across the land brave pants are coming out. And people are killing off Mobile Phones while trying to video such bravery.
With this motivation, I have worked Charlie almost every day. I am making videos which can be seen on my You Tube Channel....Not sure how you find it....but they are ending up on our Facebook page, East Suffolk Ponies. By the end of this challenge I may be riding Charlie, if not I will be a proficient Video Editor...even if I have no clue how to share the links !!!!!
In the meantime.....a photo LOL!!!
So Xmas got very sociable!!!! First up we had a Mini Pony Party. About 12 girls played gymkhana games and pony glittered. Lu was brought in for gymkhana which may have been a little beneath her Eliteness!!
But Mini enjoyed it....
On Xmas Eve Rob and Meg brought a 'Picnic' up......which was actually an oven to make wood fired pizza which was yummy.....Good job the O'conners turned up to help us eat it all!!
Xmas day itself I wasn't doing anything special so volunteered for the poo picking. It was a beautiful sunny day and I took a lot of selfies and general pics. The Ponies looked like they had been to the pub the night before. There was a lot of dozing going on. Mini was happy to do the 'Xmas Pose'
Boxing day!!!! Maybe least said the better Lol. Please stop reading right now if you are anyway BHS or Health and Safety conscious!! I went on a Boxing Day Alcohol Hunt with Sarah. I truely meant not to drink much.........
I borrowed a horse off Georgie who shares grazing with Sarah. Monty, a lovely big black cob, who hasn't been out for ages. (Poor Monty). With Sarah on her lovely William, we started with a glass of port. And off we set. The idea is to ride around Aldeburgh blagging drinks!!! I have to say....we DID have fluorescent sheets on the horses (Aldeburgh being full of tourists at xmas). The first two stops we received very pokey sloe gin. By the time we got into the High Street to stop at the White Hart, we threw caution to the wind and opted for Zambuka Shots!!
More Zambuka at Dps Bar. By this time we were hugely photographed, while grinning like loons and waving like the Queen. We went home via the beach, somehow avoiding the hoards of walkers, calling in for a final glass of Champagne at the last house. It seemed wrong not to attempt to finish the bottle of Port when we got back!!
As if all this wasn't enough Jo turned 60 during the week so on Saturday she had Tackroom Cocktails... Or as I kept saying Cockroom Tactails!! The Cocktails in question were Champagne Cocktails, made with Champagne, Brandy, Angostura Bitters and a Sugar Lump. The Tackroom was packed and people were very merry!!!! BTW - The horses were looked after first!!!
On New Years Eve we had a very eventful ride. And that was before any alcohol was imbibed!!!! It all started out innocently enough. Meg was all set to take Nancy for a plod on Mini. As Daisy was looking sound, we were talking about taking her for a walk. So I suggested Nancy ride her, led by Meg, while Jo and I accompanied with Lu and Molly. Molly was like a cat on hot bricks!!! She just wanted to go. Which was not possible with a 5 year old on Daisy. The more I held her back the worse she became, gathering her body up and cantering sideways. So we turned back. Not the best idea!! Molly revved up more, and then Daisy (who was very sound), thought a jog would do no harm. She jogs a lot with me, I find it quite comfortable as I am used to it, but actually its quite bouncy. Too bouncy for a 5 year old!
Molly was completely sideways at this point, so I saw poor little Nancy fall. Quite a long way down off a 14.2hh when you are 5. After years working at an Equestrian Centre and the RDA my instinct when a rider is down is to jump off to assist. So thats what I did.. As I started back up the track with Molly, it dawned on me that it would be nearly impossible to grab Daisy without Molly kicking her, as they haven't really made friends!
Thankfully Nancy was fine, although didn't want to get back on, which left her walking while Meg led Daisy, after helping me back up, which wasn't easy as Molly wouldn't stand still. I rode back with one stirrup 4 holes longer than the other, while Molly still pranced!
When we got back Nancy agreed to ride Lu in the school and had a lovely time. I never forget being told by my Dad that you have to get straight back up. (I think that was when I was 6, after I had concussion from my hatless head being knocked against a road as the pony I was on bolted while I was being dragged as my plimsoled foot had gone through the stirrup)
And so as Jo and I have a New Years Resolution to ride more for fun, and try to find more of a work/fun balance, we took Lu and Daisy out for a nice long hack on Wednesday. We went down the lanes of Snape, across the common to the Burger Van, where I was tempted by an eat now pay later burger. Lu was bored by the time it was cooked and black clouds were coming over, so we legged it down the road that takes us back to the Farm tracks, while I was still eating. Yes awfully BHS to be trotting down the road, scoffing a burger (I did lose a few onions!).
It has turned a bit colder today.....But we still haven't rugged. They are all furry and not at all cold. Its easy to think of the horse being as cold as we are...BUT they survived the Ice Age. They have thick skin and coats. We don't!. We are feeding plenty of Hay and they still have grass. Plenty of forage equals an internal central heating system.
Meanwhile as cold humans we have a lovely wood burner on the go in the tack room.
